When do you think people will finally start to understand atheism?

Alright, so a couple of days ago I was talking to a friend of mine in class. And we began to talk about religion. Now I'm far from the kind of person that likes to showcase my views on things, But I told him I was an Atheist. He Actually didn't believe me at first, and said that people have to take a oath to become an atheist. We literally argued about this for 5 whole minutes before I finally said lets go to an computer and get google the definition. after I showed him what atheism actually is, He still retained doubt. I just said forget it, and ended the conversation on it there.

What I'm asking is how long will people remain that ignorant on atheism. It's not like he's dumb when it comes to other topics. He says He's a christian and he never even read the bible. And when I told him and another friend I read it They Laughed. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention one of the guys laughing has a tattoo that says "blessed" on his chest. And he never read the bible. That's just stupid to me, But I kinda want to know what other people think about this.

"...it would take the over turning of a lot of hard-headed peoples minds."

My attempts to understand atheism included visiting a college atheist club, and the certainty I heard there that no gods existed resulted in my choosing agnosticism. Building in myself the self-confidence that Catholicism had years earlier blocked took much longer, and in time I put agnosticism and chose atheism.

I've come to see that people who seem hard-headed in their religious belief are really frightened of the world they inhabit. For them to heal will require both information and self-confidence.

i dont know, but people are retards for not getting it. atheism is just the absence of god. and if hes a christian who has never read the bible that shows how stupid he actually is. he believes something he knows nothing about. ask him why he is a christian. ask him why he believes what he does. question his beliefs.